"Time Travel in Seneca" Oregon Trail Ruralite, January 2007

Seneca Students Travel Back in
Time With Oral History Project
By B. Marie Jarreau-Danner
Many Seneca residents
remember the one room,
yellow, "cheese-box" houses
now melted into the rich history of
their town.
In the heyday of logging operations
in Seneca, some employees
temporarily lived in the small square
structures resembling big blocks
of cheese. Others lived in boxcars
turned into bunkhouses.
A few of those have been incorporated
into houses still in use in
Seneca today.
Seneca students know how those
shelters fit into the development of
their town, and much more.
As if traveling back in time, the
students are learning about Seneca's
logging and railroad past, and about
the historic lives and experiences of
their ancestors and other residents.
Using a continuing series of interviews,
research tools, artwork and
artifacts, the entire school has been
involved in the oral history project
for more than five years.
Seneca head teacher Adele Cerny
said the idea came in 2001 from
Seneca teacher Judith Beaudet Reed.
With help from other school and
community members, the project
has grown to include publication of
a book, "Seneca School Oral History
Project," development of two large
murals, a detailed history time line,
historical site maps and a museum
collection.
A three-dimensional model
of Seneca, including a train that
hauled logs to Hines, is under
construction.
Eighteen former and present
Seneca residents have been interviewed.
Their stories are archived
in the publication.
"We created eight interview
teams, where younger students
were paired with older students,"
said Judith. "Even the first-graders
were encouraged to take notes.
Later, they all worked together with
their notes and memories of the conversations.
Teachers helped them
blend the information together."
Through research and interviews
students gathered information
about life in Seneca that focused on
the presence of the Edward Hines
Western Pine Company.
"We wanted to learn more about
the history of Seneca when it was a
logging town in the 1930s through
1950s," student Clay Hughet explained
during a recent presentation.
More than 100 people attended
the debut of the publication on
November 1. Students spoke to visitors
about future goals of the project,
and presented the artifact collection,
the time line and the large murals.
Colorful details of historic events
and prominent locations around
Seneca are showcased in the murals.
While artist-in-residence Carol
Poppenga guided development and
construction of the large art pieces,
the students determined which
scenes would be depicted.
"One of the challenges for her
was that every student had to be included
in the work from the sketching
phase to applying the painting,"
said Judith.
One of the mural scenes illustrates
"a man running as fast as he can from
his cheese-box house to the outhouse
in his red long-johns because it was
so-o-o cold," second-grader Jessica
Carter explained with a giggle.
Youngsters were intrigued to hear
interviewees speak about the record
minus-54 degrees Fahrenheit recorded
in Seneca in February 1933,
making the small rural town the
coldest spot in Oregon.
Students learned about jobs that
defined Seneca's logging era: chain
pullers, kiln men, planers, trimmers.
They also learned about others who
provided support for the overall operations:
store owners, hotel keepers,
teachers, homemakers, machinists
and health care providers.
Sue Pynes Woodford Beals lived
in Seneca in the 1930s and 40s. She
told the students her family lived in
a cheese-box house before she was
born. They used home remedies for
health care when it was impractical to
get to doctors in Burns or John Day.
For intermediate ailments local nurse
Carine Williams was usually called.
Leonard Trafton lived in Seneca
from 1947 to 1969. He and his family
lived in a house that had been
a cheese-box house. Later, it was
renovated and enlarged. Leonard
also told the students about nurse
Williams. He said Dr. John Weir
traveled from Burns to Seneca once
each week to take care of cuts,
bone breaks and ailments more
difficult than could be handled by
the nurse or home remedies.
The students learned how the
community shared what it had,
and how cohesively residents
worked and played together.
Students heard stories about
logging, gandy dancers—railroad
repair crews—cold weather, rabbit
hunting in deep snow, Seneca
money, black woolies, mill wages,
jammers, and trading with the
Umatilla and Paiute indians and
28 JANUARY 2007 OREGON TRAIL

Above, Seneca School Ambassadors present historical and technical information about the latest mural that depicts scenes of Seneca s
history: Opposite page, Rheanna Cartner offers an original sketch of Seneca s former nurse Carine Williams for inclusion in the
mural. Photo courtesy of Seneca School.
experiencing their culture.
They learned of the Seneca swimming
pool and found remnants of it
during their archaeological tours.
John Saunders told interviewers
about being a young man in the area.
He said they collected all the animal
hides they could find to trade with the
Native Americans, who would come
down from Pendleton and Umatilla
"in a mile-long line with travois."
The hides were traded for gloves
with gauntlets and fancy beadwork,
and for work gloves.
Deer were plentiful, Saunders
said, but elk was scarce.
An excerpt from the book explains
what happens when a couple of boys
get into trouble:
One time he was with his cousins and
they came upon an Indian grave. Not
knowing any better, they took copper
buckets and Indian beads home. His aunt
got all over them and chased them back to
the grave. They reburied the items.
Through this project, generations
of Seneca students are getting the
sense of the economic changes that
have altered their town.
Remembering his logging days
in Seneca, Leo (Duce) Charles
McKrola told of one tree logged in
the Murderers Creek area that measured
18,000 board feet and eight
feet in diameter—"Enough to build
an entire house," he told students.
The loss of that industry brought
much change to Seneca.
Historians Jack Southworth,
Dennis Smith and Martin Morisette,
and the U.S. Forest Service, are
among those who provided support
for the school and the oral history
project.
Morisette's Web site, www.
co-greengold.com, is devoted to
Oregon's logging history and hosts
Seneca School's Web page.
As they travel back in time through
conversations with older residents,
students have been able to share
in the memories of Seneca's past.
Through their project, they also are
preserving those historical accounts
for future generations. ■
For more information about the project
or to purchase Seneca School Oral
History Project contact the Seneca School
at (541) 542-2542.
t
OREGON TRAIL JANUARY 2007 29